10 Creepy Japanese Urban Legends

Every country has its
own cultural folklore. In the UK, you might be creeped out by black dogs. In
Australia, you might be terrified of the Bunyip. Below, read about 10 Japanese
urban legends that have been causing the Land of the Rising Sun nightmares for
generations.

10. The Noppera-bō

The The Noppera-bō, translated as “faceless ghosts,” are mysterious creatures that seem to delight in frightening humans. According to the legends about these strange ghosts, they look identical to humans, except for one significant difference: their faces are completely blank of features.

While the The Noppera-bō are basically harmless, encountering one is a harrowing experience. Typically, the ghost will appear to you in the form of someone that you know. Then, the features of that familiar face will slowly melt away, leaving behind a face of smooth, blank skin.

In other stories, the The Noppera-bō have been known to appear as beautiful women who beg you not to do something. If you fail to heed her words, she will stare at you while she wipes off her face. Although they are one of the more innocuous Japanese urban legends, encountering a The Noppera-bō is sure to be a terrifying experience.

9. Kokkuri-San

If you’ve ever played with a Ouija Board, you can probably relate to the Japanese urban legends surrounding Kokkuri-san. Much like Ouija, Kokkuri-san is a simple form of divination that can be practiced by novices hoping to dabble in the spirit world.

Kokkuri-san can be translated as “to nod up and down.” The game is played by placing a pot covered with cloth atop a tripod made of bamboo sticks. The players touch the apparatus and ask questions of the spirits. The spirits respond by making the pot ‘nod.’

Those who believe in the truth of Kokkuri-san insist that the movement of the pot is the result of supernatural occurrences. Many scientists have attempted to denounce the urban legend by providing scientific explanations for how the pot could move on its own, but that hasn’t decreased the popularity of the game.

8. Sunshine 60

From 1978 until 1991,
Sunshine 60, a 60-story skyscraper in Ikebukuro, was the tallest building in
Japan. Despite this milestone, Sunshine 60 is more known for being the site of
one of the creepiest Japanese urban legends.

Sunshine 60 was built on
the site that used to house Sugamo Prison. The prison had a dark reputation for
holding and executing political prisoners. In fact, the developers gave the new
building a cheery name in an attempt to divert attention from the site’s
gruesome past.

However, many who work
in the building have reported strange incidents. They say that you can often
see dark shadows darting around or hear laughter, groans, screams, whispers,
and chanting. Some have even had items yanked from them and hurled through the
air. These stories have made Sunshine 60 notorious as one of Japan’s most
haunted sites.

7. Hanako-san

Hanako-san, or
“Hanako of the toilet,” is one of several Japanese urban legends that
center around haunted bathrooms. According to the legends, Hanako-san is the
spirit of a young girl who was killed while hiding in a bathroom. The cause of
her death varies: some say it was a World War II air raid, and others believe
she was murdered by a psychotic intruder.

According to the legend,
if you go to a school’s third floor, approach the third stall of the girl’s
bathroom, knock on the stall three times, and say “Are you there,
Hanako-san?” the ghost will show herself by answering “I’m here.” If you
enter the stall, you will find a small girl in a red skirt.

What happens next varies
based on the legend. Some say the girl will just disappear. Others have
reported finding a red handprint on the door of the stall. However, the most
terrifying legends state that inside the stall, you will be eaten by a three-headed
lizard that had been mimicking a young girl’s voice.

6. Tomino’s Hell

Tomino’s Hell is the
title of a poem that has been the focus of one of the most pervasive Japanese
urban legends. The poem was written by Yomota Inuhiko in a book called The Heart is Like a Rolling Stone. The
poem itself is gruesome, violent, and eerie. Years after it was published, a
rumor began to circulate that anyone who read the poem, either aloud or
silently, would have tragic things happen to them.

The legend spawned a
popular internet trend in which users would post videos of themselves reading
the poem aloud. Some of the users who posted these videos eventually posted
updates stating that nothing bad had happened. However, many of the users who
posted videos never posted again, leaving their followers to wonder if they had
met a tragic fate.

5. Aka Manto

Aka Manto is another of
the popular Japanese urban legends to revolve around public bathrooms.
According to the stories, Aka Manto was a beautiful man while alive. He was
hounded so much by admirers that he eventually started wearing a mask to cover
his beauty.

It is unclear how Aka
Manto’s life ended, but it was likely gruesome as he now haunts public
bathrooms. The stories say that you will be sitting in a stall and suddenly
hear a mysterious voice asking, “Do you want red or blue paper?” If you choose
blue, you will be strangled until your face is blue. If you choose red, you
will be sliced apart until your clothes are stained red with blood.

If you try to outsmart
Aka Manto by choosing a color other than blue or red, he will drag you through
the toilet into the underworld. Some say that Hanako-san helps him do this. The
only way to avoid a tragic fate is to tell Aka Manto that you don’t need any
paper.

4. The Teke Teke

The story of the Teke
Teke is one of the more terrifying and violent of the Japanese urban legends.
The Teke Teke is a form of vengeful spirit that violently kills those unlucky
enough to encounter it.

According to the story,
the spirit originated from a young girl who was walking alone on the train
tracks. She fell and was unable to move. Unfortunately, an oncoming train
sliced her body in half at the waist before anyone came along to help
her.

The girl’s spirit was
transformed into a Teke Teke. She drags her legless body along the ground with
her hands or elbows, making a “teke teke” sound. If you hear the sound or see
the spirit pulling itself along, you should run immediately. Anyone who
encounters the spirit and can’t get away quickly enough is sliced in half at
the waist, just like the young girl who was killed to create the Teke Teke.

3. Kuchisake-onna

Kuchisake-onna is
another violent and dangerous legend of a spirit out for revenge. She is also
known as the “slit-mouthed woman.”

The legend says that
Kuchisake-onna was once a beautiful woman, but was mutilated and killed by her
angry husband, who slit her face from ear to ear. Now, she walks the streets at
night as a spirit wearing a cloth mask to hide her disfigured face. If you are
walking alone, she will approach you and ask you to walk her home. As you walk,
she will ask you if she’s pretty. If you say no, she will kill you with a pair
of scissors. If you say yes, she will take off her mask, revealing her
terrifying face, and ask again. If you say yes again, she’ll cut your face to
look like hers. If you say no, she’ll cut you in half.

There are a few ways to
avoid a grisly death at the hand of Kuchisake-onna. One way is to never walk
alone at night so she won’t have a chance to approach you. Another is to reply
to her questions by telling her she is average looking. She will be confused by
this answer, and you’ll have a chance to flee.

2. The Kunekune

The stories of the
Kunekune are similar to those of the Western Slender Man. The Kunekune is a
humanoid shape, but long, thin, and white or black. Many describe it as looking
like a paper doll. It is most often seen around lunchtime on hot days,
typically near large fields or water. You’ll know it is the Kunekune if you see
a figure that wiggles as if blown by the wind, even on a still day.

If you see the Kunekune
from a distance and choose to ignore it and walk away, you will be safe. It
will ignore you as well. However, if you try to get a closer look at it, legend
says that it will cause you to go insane. If you touch the Kunekune, it will
kill you instantly.

1. Kashima Reiko

Kashima Reiko is one of
the most tragic and dangerous Japanese urban legends. According to the myth,
she will visit you within one month after you hear her story. If you don’t want
to be visited by her, turn back now.

Kashima Reiko was a
young woman who was violently abused by a group of men. She called for help,
but no one came. She crawled away in search of aid but collapsed on train
tracks. A train came by and cut off her legs. She now is said to wander in
search of her missing legs. Often, she appears in bathrooms, both public and
private.

If you see her, she will
begin to ask you questions. She will ask, “Where are my legs?” to which you
must respond, “On Meishin Expressway.” She will ask, “Who told you that?” and
you must answer, “Kashima Reiko told me that.” She will then ask a trick
question: “What is my name?” The correct answer is not Kashima Reiko, but “Mask
Death Demon.” If you answer any question incorrectly, she will instantly tear
off your legs and leave you for dead.

This is a contributed post by Slapped Ham. Slapped Ham is a website that’s been covering all things strange, mysterious and creepy for over 5 years. They have a YouTube channel with over one million subscribers and have been noted for their eerie, binge-worthy content.

Something was thumping on my door

Background info- About four years ago, my husband went away for a few months to upgrade in his trade, and I was home alone for that time. I don’t get out much, especially without someone to take me out, so I spent a lot of time indoors. We lived in a basement suite, with roads on two sides of the house and an alley on one, then the basement door and back yard faced the neighbouring house. The door had a semicircle window near the top that I could look out if I stood on tiptoe. Also, nothing about the house changed and I lived down there until this spring without another incident, so I think I can rule out environmental factors as a cause. BC Canada, lower mainland. Spring.

One day, while he was away, I spent the whole day in. Starting in the early afternoon, I kept hearing sets of four thumps. Thum-thump, thum-thump, spaced like that. I didn’t think much of it, it sounded like a heavy truck hitting a speed bump or a pothole (thum hitting the bump with the wheel, then thump of the wheel landing on the other side, and then the same with the hind wheel). It rattled the house a bit, but it was a shitty suite and a lot of things did. It wasn’t constant, but I thought it was odd for so many trucks to be going by, especially as it got later and traffic thinned.

Even as it got quite late, it continued, if anything growing more frequent, and I remember being annoyed, but I eventually fell asleep.

I woke up to pounding and everything shaking. I thought it was an earth quake, the most severe I’d ever felt. I tried to find my phone, so I could check and text my partner, but couldn’t find it, and slowly became aware that the shaking and pounding were still to that same pattern, and that it was on the door. BANGBANG BANGBANG, more rapid and louder than before.

I figured it was someone looking for the previous tenant, but I didn’t want to open the door to cops (cops came to my previous apartment looking for the old tenant) or someone looking for a fight, so I kept all the lights off so no one could see that I was there, and crept up to the front door. I couldn’t see anyone through the window, but my eye level just met the bottom of the frame (I’m short), so I could only have seen someone taller than me. I figured they were crouching, hiding.

Still trying to be really quiet, I kicked all the shoes by the door into a pile, and stepped up onto them, getting myself just the few inches more that I needed to look out and down, and expected to see someone crouching with a weapon, or some uniform cop, also crouching with weapons.

Instead, there was a kid outside. He was impossibly white with dark hair; he looked greyscale and almost like he was glowing in the moonlight, and he was absolutely whaling on the door with both fists, with strength that felt like it would rattle it off its hinges; completely unnatural strength for someone(something) that small.

I’m witchy, so I thought somehow that could help, but I was too tired to think, and it was too dark to find anything (I was still trying to be inconspicuous), so I just gathered all the energy I could muster and mentally (/spiritually?) pushed.

In the morning I woke up on my bed, wearing my housecoat, on top of the covers, with my bedroom door wide open. I didn’t go to bed that way, I never do. The shoes were still in a messy pile by the door. I’ve never sleep walked, I had no instances of sleep paralysis within years of that incident, and I rarely remember dreams for more than a few minutes.

It’s both the scariest paranormal experience I’ve had and the hardest for me to debunk.

James: 8/10 That went in a direction I wasn’t quite expecting. Thanks for sharing the scares!

Ghost Photo: Great-Grandmother’s Ghost

The photo above comes from Reddit’s r/Ghosts. The user who shared the photo believes the face behind the child is the girl’s great-grandmother. However, skeptics on the thread say it’s poor photography – low lighting and a high exposure time – that created the ghostly effect. What do you think?

Do you have a ghostly photo you can’t explain? Want to share it on this site? Send it to ghostsghoul@gmail.com.

Colonel Jonathan Tyng House in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts:​The…

Colonel Jonathan Tyng House in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts:

​The Colonel Jonathan Tyng #House in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts was constructed in 1675 by the #Tyng family, for whom the town of Tyngsborough is named. It was added to the National Register of #Historic Places in August of 1977, but was destroyed in a #fire just a few years later in 1981. Now all that remains of the historic site is the building’s stone foundation, and a marker commemorating the home. Despite this, the remains of the old house are believed to be #haunted by several #spirits, including that of a woman named Judith Thompson Tyng, who was #murdered by her husband Jonathan Alford Ting in the early 1770’s. Historical records indicate that Mr. Tyng paid a local man known as “Dr. Blood” to murder Judith and their three young #children, who were then hidden beneath the house’s floorboards. Shortly after her death, Dr. Blood and Jonathan Ting both died suddenly and mysteriously, with many claiming that the vengeful #ghost of Judith Tyng was somehow responsible. According to legend, Dr. Blood was found lying dead in the middle of a nearby roadway with a woman’s footprint still visible on the back of his skull, and Jonathan Tyng quickly became ill with an unknown affliction and died. Ever since, locals have reported witnessing the spirit of a beautiful woman wearing a green dress at the site of the Colonel Jonathan Tyng House, believed to be the ghost of Mrs. Tyng. Another spirit said to haunt the location is that of a former #NativeAmerican man who once lived on the land before selling it to the Tyng family. His #apparition is often seen sitting stoically on a large rock near the old house, staring vacantly into the distance. Another popular #folklore story claims that the Colonel Jonathan Tyng House is haunted by the spirits of several former African #American slaves who were once kept shackled in the attic of the home, and may have died under mysterious circumstances.

Tewksbury Cemetery in Tewksbury, Massachusetts:Established in…

Tewksbury Cemetery in Tewksbury, Massachusetts:

Established in the late 1700’s, Tewksbury #Cemetery in Tewksbury, #Massachusetts is said to be #haunted by the #spirit of a woman in white, whose #apparition is often seen by visitors before mysteriously vanishing. Others walking in the area late at night have also reported encountering a strange, unidentified creature that quietly prowls the cemetery. The creature is described as being large and featureless, with leathery skin and sunken eyes.

Longfellow’s Wayside Inn & Restaurant in Sudbury,…

Longfellow’s Wayside Inn & Restaurant in Sudbury, Massachusetts:

Longfellow’s Wayside #Inn & #Restaurant in Sudbury, #Massachusetts was constructed in 1707 as the Howe family home. The house was first registered as an inn in 1716, and is renowned as being the oldest operating inn in the #UnitedStates. It is also said to be #haunted by the #spirit of a woman named Jerusha Howe, who passed away 1842. Among locals, #Jerusha was known as “the belle of Sudbury,” and was often praised for her #piano playing and artistic ability. According to #legend, she fell in #love with a young man from #England whom she was engaged to. Just before their #marriage, the man left on an unexpected trip back to England and was never seen or heard from again. Some believe the man was #killed at sea while returning to #NewEngland for the wedding, while others suspect he simply had a change of heart and decided to start a new life. Jerusha Howe lived out the rest of her days at the inn, where it’s said she waited patiently until her #death for her #fiance to return. She passed away at the age of 45 having never #married, with many claiming she died of a broken heart. Ever since her death, those staying at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn have reported witnessing the spirit of Jerusha Howe pacing the halls late at night, still waiting for her lover to return. Guests staying in room 9 – Jerusha’s old room – also report hearing the sounds of disembodied footsteps, and smelling the unexplained fragrance of a woman’s #perfume. Others have reported hearing the disembodied sounds of a piano being played late at night.